JOIN QUEEN'S COLLEGE STUDENTS ON THEIR EASTER ADVENTURE
COSTA RICA 2023
HEREDIA | SAN JOSE | MONTEVERDE
DAY 10
Sunday, April 9
DAY 10 – LEAVING MONTEVERDE – BACK TO SAN JOAQUIN
We were able to sleep in a little longer today – Breakfast was at 9:00 a.m.
Our last breakfast in Monteverde was fresh cantaloupe and pineapple, two kinds of cereal, yogurt, fresh orange juice and coffee. The main breakfast today was french toast, bacon and scrambled eggs. We all said goodbyes to CPI Monteverde and packed all of our bags into the bus to head back down the mountain.
After a few hours, we stopped outside of San Ramon at El Jardin for a buffet lunch. We ate at a different El Jardin buffet on the way up on Friday and so we were familiar with the delicious spread of food to choose from. The line was very long but moved quickly. It was back on the bus for another hour to Sarchi to see the enormous OXCART next to the church in town.
SARCHI
Unfortunately, when we got there, the oxcart was missing! Where was it?Â
Upon asking the locals, the city had removed it for repairs and repainting. Thankfully, we were able to go to a nearby artisan factory to watch the artisans paint designs on oxcart, umbrellas and other wooden souvenirs. Of course we had to buy the last set of souvenirs here to take home. But first we took a picture in front of the green church in Sarchi.
We were shown how this souvenir store allows 800 artisans from the area to come in and work on painting their products about 9 hours a day. We were also given the history of how oxcarts started and the evolution of the oxcart wheel from all metal, to all wood, then a combination of 16 pie-sliced shapes of wood in a metal circular casing. We were also given a demonstration of how water is used to turn a wheel to generate electricity used in several machines onsite to cut and repurpose wood into souvenirs. The beautiful decoration seen on the items is unique to the artisans in this area of Costa Rica.
Finally, after another hour of driving, we arrived at our homes safe and sound in San Joaquin de Flores.
Tomorrow is a public holiday which allows everyone to rest and recuperate in their homes and neighbourhoods before school starts again on Tuesday!